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Tuesday, May 20, 2014

Recently Read: The Assassin's Blade

I have been reading two books at the same time all month this month for some reason. I never do this so I have no idea why it started now. I'm having trouble committing to just one book at a time. I have been working on The Picture of Dorian Gray for about a week, which was stressing me out because its summer and I want to read everything on my shelves! I'm enjoying Dorian greatly, but it is a slower read and takes more effort to read than other books on my shelf. The point of that tangent was to say that I picked up The Assassin's Blade by Sarah J. Maas while taking a break from Dorian.

This is a collection of the five novellas that go along with her Throne of Glass Series which I love. I have read the first two books, Throne of Glass and Crown of Midnight, and am excited for the third book which is released this September. I had not read any of the novellas so I was eager to pick them up.

What's cool about these novellas, is that the five of them together make a prequel for Throne of Glass. Each novella builds upon the previous one, and they don't feel like filler or fluff which can happen with novellas sometimes, they feel like a complete novel. These novellas give so much insight in Celaena's character and her past. In this book we meet Sam, Celaena's first love and Arobynn, the Assassin King who has trained Calena since she was a young girl and learn more about the betrayal that landed Celaena into Endovier.

This book was very fast paced, just like Maas' other novels, and I would recommend it to those who read the first two books and need more Celaena before the third book, Heir of Fire comes out in September. (which by the way has another gorgeous cover) These novellas really add to the series, and although I don't think you'll be totally lost if you don't read them, they are very enjoyable to read and do add to the series and the character development.